It has been a long week

It started out with a visit to the doctor because Belle's breathing sounded like Darth Vader. Fortunately, it was only head congestion and not in her lungs. But the nurse used a larger-than-life nosey-sucky thingy to clear her out, which she HATED and then gave us instructions to keep her upright as much as possible, which has made sleeping (sleeping-- she sleeps!? ...not at night!) challenging.

It all started because Jackson had a cold and he shared it. His congestion did travel down to his lungs, which causes him to vomit when he coughs at times. It's awful. So, we've been doing breathing treatments.

We have a good system-- he sits, and watches the Backyardigans and after the full treatment, he gets a peice of candy. 

Derek was teaching Julie tips on fighting. 

(disclaimer: he didn't actually hit her!)

Sunday night the terrible tornado hit Joplin, which is just a couple hours south from us. Derek spent the weekend down there and headed home just earlier that morning. We've definitely counted those blessings. We weren't really affected by the storms on Sunday night, but we had our own storms on Wednesday.  This is a view of downtown Kansas City during the storm.

Mom and I were headed to take Jackson bowling when Derek called to tell me about the tornado watch (in our defense... the weather had called for rain all morning and it never happened, so we just decided to go out!). I immediately tried to contact Julie to tell her we were on our way home and to take cover in the basement. My phone picked a great time to stop working and so I never got a hold of her on our fifteen minute ride back. I rushed in to find her crouched in the back corner of our basement, wrapped in a blanket, crying. Denmark does not experience this kind of weather, so hearing the sirens and after hearing the devastation about what had happened in Joplin while being home alone-- she was scared to death!! Poor girl. Fortunately it passed; the storm was over as quickly as it came in!

Funnel cloud over Belton 

We finally put Julie to work to cover her living expenses!!

Ha, not really. She was practically begging to mow. Have you ever seen anyone so excited about yard work??

Tomorrow we are going camping so we spent the evening packing up and getting ready. I am super looking forward to it. I think Jackson is gonna love being outdoors.

And here's hoping next week doesn't feel so crazy so that I can find time to shower before I end up going 2 and a half days without one. Ick!

Work, play, and the list

We spent a lot of today getting stuff done around the house. Derek got up early and mowed- Jackson helped. He also cleaned out the gutters, which are less than six months old and already had little sprouts growing in them. Ugh. This evening we cleared out several boxes and organized some of the stuff we still haven't unpacked.

Jackson had a playdate with his friend Kate yesterday. He was less interested in sitting and playing with her than he was in running around into the neighbors yard. Oh well. Isn't her little strawberry swimsuit just so cute? Someday I will have my own little dress-up doll daughter, fingers crossed!

I've been working on the list. The Power of Attorney is put together and ready for us to sign and the will is almost done too (we just have to sit down and make our 'picks'). I put a call into the lawyer whose office was down the hall from when I worked with my dad and it literally took maybe five minutes. And he offered to do it at no cost. What a blessing! So I've crossed out two things on the list, but we've now decided to try to finish the basement before Derek leaves, too-- two steps forward, one (major) step back. At least it's progress!

Larry the Home Depot Guy

Today I took two one-year-olds into Home Depot to buy some grass seed and fertilizer. Since they didn't have any double-seater-stroller-race-car available, I put both kiddos in the basket of a normal cart and headed to garden department. Things were fine until we were in the same spot for too long (choosing a type of grass- who knew there were so many!?) and Jackson got bored and Chacey was just super tired. Did I mention it was nap time?

So, Larry the Home Depot guy, comes over to ask if I had need help. Not only does this man have answers to all my questions about grass and fertilizer and the basics of getting grass to grow--if it's called Tall Fescue does it mean that it grows taller faster and needs mowed more often? (answer, no)-- but he was so helpful and patient with me as I had to interrupt the conversation constantly to attend to my child who had already put one leg out of the cart in efforts to climb out. Larry the Home Depot guy even continuously picked up my keys off the floor as Jackson kept throwing out of the cart while I held Chacey who had pretty much fallen asleep in my arms.

Then went to find a big cart, loaded up the grass (a mixed blend if you're curious) and the fertalizer. He walked it to the cash register, scanned the items himself, and then followed me out to load it all in my car. Then, he even waited for me to get the kids buckled in so he could return both carts.

Talk about customer service! Since it is so easy to focus on complaining sometimes, I just wanted to take a quick moment and focus how a great employee made a dreadful task so much easier!

One a completely different note, this is Jackson's black eye. He fell last night and hit the coffee table- he went to bed with a scratch and woke up with a black eye.

God made dirt, it won't hurt

Spring is here so we can finally start getting some work done on our yard. I cannot wait to have grass instead of a mud pit for a yard! Yesterday afternoon our top soil was delivered and the kids watched in amazement as the "tuck" emptied the dirt in a massive heap in our front yard. Of course Jackson wanted to check it out. My first thought was, "heck, no!" but then decided, "why not?" So I brought the kids inside to change into some play clothes and we headed back out to the pile of dirt.

It is very interesting to me how these two are so different despite being in the same environment a lot of the time. Jackson is 100% boy and Chacey 100% girly. Give them the same activity, and they will each participate in a different way. Example, playing in the dirt- Jackson was into climbing and throwing dirt while Chacey was content to sit still and break apart the clumps into smaller pieces.

Jackson thought he'd see if the dirt was tasty and dove right in. But then he realized he didn't like it, so he tried to wipe it out. Except that he was using his dirty hands, which kept putting more in his mouth. Regardless, he was having too much fun to care. On the other hand, Chacey merely took a quick taste and was pretty uninterested and went back to breaking up clumps of dirt.

Here is a short clip of Jackson's fun in the dirt

My Little Einstein

While I know that every mother thinks that their child is the cutest, smartest thing to ever come into this world- I really, truly know that mine IS the cutest and the smartest little 16 month old out there today. :) No bias. Here's a video of him reading a book. I wish it wasn't so dark, but it's still a cute video.

Seriously though, Jackson is at such a fun age. He is learning new things every day- picking up new talents and saying new words. He's finally letting us know that he understands our world! So when Daddy says things like, "Ugh. Why don't you go mess on Mom's computer instead of mine," Jackson promptly comes over to my computer and bangs on my keyboard.

And he picks up on things that we haven't even specifically taught him either. Like how he knows that keys go in the door (even though he's using the car keys). I suppose it's time to really pay attention our every little action before he picks up on something we don't want him too. And how not fair is it that Derek will  be gone for close to eight months- so that when Jackson does says or does something to incriminate a bad habit, I can't just say, "Oh, he picked that up from his father..."

Here are some pictures from this weekend when Jackson helped us with some much needed yard work on Monday.

He was actually putting leaves 

on the sidewalk so he could sweep them up.

Seriously, could he be cuter?

Good thing he was there to push the wagon!

Big helper!!